Friday, March 06, 2015

Vandals

The Vandals were one of several "tribes" during the Migration Period to muscle their way into the territory of the crumbling Western Roman Empire. They first came to the attentions of Roman historians when they were living in what is now southern Poland, and their name is thought to perhaps indicate origins in Sweden.

During their wanderings through the collapsing Roman state in the west, they paused in the Iberian peninsula long enough to give it its Arabic name, al Andalusia, before expanding into North Africa and founding a kingdom there. It was their looting of Rome in 455 that permanently verbed them into the term for wanton destruction.

However, looting is an understandable motive. People want stuff, and if you've got stuff they want and you can't stop them from taking it, then vae victis, baby. It's a hard ol' world.

This? This is just senseless. This is protosimian poo-flinging and nest-fouling. It's barely a full notch above crapping in the village well. We need to change the term for "breaking stuff just for the sake of breaking stuff" from "vandalism" to "wahabbism". It would be more accurate..